Religion is Public

The 'Ethical' Reserve in Modern Western Democracies

Abstract

Over the last few decades, in modern western society, religion is an active and positive presence in the public sphere. Theories limiting religious faith to a personal, private fact, have been proven inappropriate by events which had religion playing a main role in a european and international context. Despite the differences in intepretation, Boeckenfoerde, Taylor, Habermas and Ratzinger, agree with the idea that religion can offer a great deal of content and ethical propositions to the public debate that the secular thought often lacks. The public sphere is enriched by the religious offer and it is not threatened in absolute terms provided that excess and fundamentalism can be limited. The Religion retains a legacy of ethics and values that today liberal Western societies have gradually lost due to their progressive secularization.